Staff photo / Times-PicayuneContractors coax 'Profile Canto,' an abstract sculpture by Ernest Trova, into place Wednesday at Bonnabel and Veterans Memorial boulevards in Metairie. The New Orleans Museum of Art has lent Jefferson Parish three sculptures to display along Veterans as part of a spruce-up effort.

The hours workers spent Wednesday delicately maneuvering a giant sculpture into its moorings in the neutral ground at the intersection of Bonnabel and Veterans Memorial boulevards in Metairie gave local observers time to ponder the transcendental nature of modern art.

"It kind of looks like a propeller," said Bob Martin, assistant manager of the First American Bank across the street.

"We have no clue; it's weird-looking," bank manager Adele Cressy said. "But it matches our bank. What can I say?"

The 31-year-old sculpture, from the "Profile Canto" series by the artist Ernest Trova, is an work of fin-like metal sheets welded to a circular center that anchors a large spike. The parish had it painted royal blue -- a color almost identical to the nearby bank's slatted roof.

It is one of three works the New Orleans Museum of Art lent to Jefferson Parish for the next 10 years to spruce up Metairie's main drag. Artists Betty Gold and Alexander Lieberman created the other two.

The sculptures are the apex of a six-month beautification project that included new trees, gardens and decorative stone walls along Veterans. Contractors will spend two days planting the art pieces on neutral grounds at Bonnabel and Club Drive, said Bryan Parks, who was overseeing the installations Wednesday for landscape architect Greg Cantrell of Kenner.

While he predicted the Trova sculpture would be well-received, Parks acknowledged he also found the work to be a bit of a head-scratcher. Asked how he was sure he wasn't installing it upside down, he said the workers were careful to mimic how it previously stood in NOMA's art garden.

"We're assuming it was right the first time," he said.

The Parish Council hired Hubbard Enterprises of Kenner in October to build the curbside gardens for $658,232, money collected from businesses along Veterans. The sculptures came free of charge, Jefferson Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Bert Smith said. Appraisers at NOMA estimated Trova's work to be worth about $100,000, he added.

Smith said he's fielded queries about why the parish chose abstract works instead of more traditional sculptures. He said NOMA had advised officials to avoid easily recognizable pieces, mainly for safety reasons.

"For this sort of setting, you don't want something you'd go up to and contemplate for a while," he said. "This is for passing motorists."

As for the wide spectrum of opinion likely to roll in, Smith said that just comes with the art form.

"Especially with modern art, there'll be people who won't like it, people who love it and people who think, 'Who cares?' " Smith said.

Francis Nguyen could only shake his head as afternoon traffic crawled along Veterans between the sculpture and the front door of his liquor store, Jack's Beverages.

Like others, he wasn't sure what to make of the artwork or its place in the historical canon. He said he would have preferred a more iconic figure, perhaps one made in the image of the famously irascible Jefferson Parish sheriff who died last year.

"I would hope they'd put a Harry Lee there," Nguyen said.

. . . . . . .

Richard Rainey can be reached at rrainey@timespicayune.com or (504) 883-7052.